The Mystery Of Wandering Caveman Part 5

"Five to ten," said Hoffer. "The ceremonies are about to start over there, and when they're finished, the mob will march up the road to ogle your cave man. Then they'll no doubt spread out to look for fossils of their own. You're too late, Brandon.

It's going to happen, and you can't do a thing to stop it!"

Chapter 8.

Amazing Events THE CEREMONIES TO OPEN the cave were late in starting. When Brandon, Terreano, and Hoffer reached the park, together with the Three Investigators, Newt McAfee was already seated on the bandstand with Thalia beside him. She wore a black-and-white print dress, and her white gloves came to her elbows. Seated next to the McAfees was a skinny man in a seersucker jacket, who looked wilted in the bright sunshine.

"That's Harry Chenoweth," Terreano whispered to Jupe. "He's the mayor, and he also owns the drugstore. He'll be the master of ceremonies. He loves to make speeches."

A man in a dark suit and a clerical collar joined the McAfees and the mayor.

Terreano identified him as the minister of the First Community Church.

Other important townspeople took their places near the minister. Terreano identified the owner of the Happy Hunter Restaurant and the man who ran the motel.

The supermarket manager was there. So was the a.s.sistant manager, and so was a woman who ran a gift shop on one of the side streets. The owner of the Lazy Daze Cafe hurried across the street, and the owner of the garage came to sit in the row behind the supermarket manager.

"They've all closed up shop," said Terrano. "The whole town is out here today.

The cave man could be a big boost to this town. Most of the businesses have been barely sc.r.a.ping by. Now there's a chance to make some real money. There isn't anybody in town who isn't happy about this."

Jupe looked around the park and saw that almost every civic organization imaginable was represented. There were Campfire Girls and Boy Scouts. There were Shriners, splendid in red fezzes, and Elks, a jovial group identified by a banner. Young men from the Junior Chamber of Commerce wore special ribbons in their lapels, and there were several men in dark suits and white-plumed hats. Mrs. Collinwood appeared in time to identify these as members of the Knights of Columbus.

The ice cream vendor had managed to get his truck close to the park and was doing a brisk business. Next to him was a young man with an immense bunch of helium-filled balloons, surrounded by a group of children.

When it seemed that the park was as crowded as it could possibly be, the mayor got up, tapped at the microphone, then raised his arms to signal silence.

Jupiter glimpsed Eleanor Hess. She was watching, and she wore her usual worried look.

"Okay, everybody!" pleaded the mayor. "Settle down now so Mr. Robertson, from the First Community Church, can ask a blessing on our new enterprise. After that the band from Centerdale High School - let's have a nice hand for the band - they'll lead the parade up the street to the cave man museum. And our own Patty Ferguson - you know her as Miss Avocado at the county fair last year - she'll cut the ribbon to open the cave."

The mayor paused and scanned the crowd. "Where are you, Patty?" he called.

"Here she is!" someone shouted.

The crowd parted and a thin girl with long blonde hair came forward.

The crowd cheered as she went up the steps to the bandstand. Suddenly there was a rushing sound, and the lawn sprinklers in the park turned on!

People gasped and screamed. Some shouted and tried to run. They couldn't. The crowd was too dense.

Jupiter felt the shock of cold water on his face and hands, and then his clothes were wet. He turned his head to exclaim to Pete, but suddenly Pete was collapsing to one side with his eyes closed.

Jupe's knees gave way, and he was no longer standing. He felt himself floating, then dropping as if he were drifting down into the trough of a wave. There wasn't even time to be scared before the darkness overwhelmed him.

Everything was cold. Jupe smelled wet earth. He felt cramped, and something was tickling his nose; He opened his eyes. He was on the ground, his face in the gra.s.s. The sprinklers were off.

"What the ... ?" said a familiar voice.

Jupe hitched himself up on one elbow and saw Brandon. Pete's head was against Brandon's hip.

There were murmurs and cries as a park full of people tried to get up. The clock in the tower of the Community Church began to strike.

Jupe looked up at the tower and counted the chimes. It was eleven o'clock?

Somehow, in some unknown way, he - and the rest of the crowd - had been unconscious for more than forty minutes.

And then it came back to him - the sprinkler system. Someone must have put some chemical into the sprinkler system to make the whole town fall asleep!

Several small children were weeping at the edge of the park, and the balloon vendor was staring up at the sky. The balloons were gone - every one of them.

Jupe managed to stand up. He was giving Bob a hand when John the Gypsy came staggering down the road from McAfee's house.

"The cave man!" shouted John the Gypsy. His voice was hoa.r.s.er than usual, and his long arms sawed the air. "He's gone! Somethin' come and took him away!"

Chapter 9.

Jupe Makes Deductions FOR SEVERAL HOURS the field by Newt McAfee's house was a scene of churning activity. Men from the sheriffs department took photographs and dusted the museum for fingerprints. People from the television stations interviewed Newt and Thalia McAfee as the pair spluttered with rage. The television reporters also interviewed James Brandon, who was quite upset, and they talked to the mayor of the town and to several other merchants. The reporters also interviewed John the Gypsy.

"Somethin' come!" John told them. "I was keepin' watch, just like Mr. Newt said, and I heard this noise behind me, and ... and I turned around ..."

He crouched and looked back over his shoulder.

"There was this thing!" he said. "A terrible thing with one big staring eye and ...

and tusks like on an elephant! It wasn't human! Then I was lyin' on the ground, and the door to that museum place was open, and when I looked inside, that poor dead one was gone!"

"The man's been drinking!" said someone in the crowd.

But John had not been drinking, and the caveman was truly gone.

Eventually the television people withdrew, and the sheriff left two men on guard and drove away. The bystanders drifted off. McAfee stood by the barn talking to one of the deputies who had stayed to keep watch. And the Three Investigators, who had been hovering around, walked over to the museum.

"Sorry, boys," said the deputy who stood at the door of the museum. "You can't come in here."

Jupe eyed the door, which was partly open. "The person who stole the bones had a key, didn't he?" he said.

The deputy looked surprised, and he glanced around at the door.

"The door isn't damaged in any way," said Jupe. "Neither is the door frame. If the intruder had had to break in, there would be marks on the door and the frame."

The deputy grinned, then stepped aside. "All right, Sherlock Holmes," he said.

"Want to look in here and see what else you can tell me?"

Jupe went into the museum with Pete and Bob.

The small building was orderly except for black smudges where the fingerprint team had been working. Jupe glanced around, then crossed the room and looked into the lighted cavern. The dirt on the floor of the cave was disturbed where the bones had been but was otherwise smooth.

It was then that Jupe noticed a single footprint in the dirt beside the place where the bones had rested. "That print was made by someone wearing rubber-soled shoes,"

said Jupe. "Newt McAfee wears cowboy boots and John the Gypsy wears laced-up work boots with leather soles. I deduce that since Mr. McAfee and John were the only people who were in here today before the theft, the print was made by the person who took the fossils. The thief wore sneakers or running shoes with a star pattern in the middle of the heel and in the sole."

The deputy nodded. "That's how we see it. A photographer took a shot of that print. We can't go rummaging through closets to find the shoes that made the print, but you never know when a photo will come in handy as evidence."

Jupe took a metal tape measure from his pocket and measured the print. It was twelve inches long.

"A fairly large man," said Jupe.

The deputy grinned. "You're doing okay. Are you going to be a detective some day?"

"I'm a detective now now," said Jupe. He didn't bother to explain this remark. Instead he looked around, puzzled. "Why?" he said. "That's what I don't understand.

Someone went to a lot of trouble. Someone obviously introduced some chemical into the sprinkler system to put the town to sleep ..."

"That's what we figure," said the deputy. "One of our guys took samples of the water from the sprinklers for testing in the lab. They'll test the water from the reservoir, too, just above town. That's where the water supply comes from."

"It's bizarre," said Jupiter. "Like a science fiction movie. With the town asleep, the thief puts on a frightening disguise and creeps up on John the Gypsy and probably sprays him him with something that will knock him out. Or perhaps vapours from the sprinklers affect him all the way up here. Then the thief gets into the museum and makes off with the fossils. with something that will knock him out. Or perhaps vapours from the sprinklers affect him all the way up here. Then the thief gets into the museum and makes off with the fossils.

"And the question remains, why? Old bones aren't valuable in themselves, like gold or jewellery. And they are important only when linked to the site where they were discovered. The two people most interested in the stolen bones are McAfee and Brandon, and they were both unconscious when the crime took place."

"A weird crime," agreed the deputy. "And we don't even know what to call it. Is it grand larceny, and should squads of men be working on it, running down every lead?

Or is it just petty larceny, or even just malicious mischief?"

"Do you think you'll be able to find the thief?" asked Bob.

"Odds are we won't." The deputy looked discouraged. "A lot of thefts never do get solved, you know. There are just too many - and not enough law enforcement people. My guess is that this bone case will go into the crime reports and that'll be the end of it."

The boys stood in gloomy silence.

The deputy moved towards the door. "Okay, you guys. I think you'd better leave now."

The boys obediently filed past him and on to Newt McAfee's meadow.

Over by the barn, Newt and the other deputy had been joined by Thalia, and also by Eleanor, who had evidently just picked up the mail. She was holding a small bundle of letters and a magazine.

Newt McAfee was holding an envelope and a letter. As the Three Investigators drew closer they could see that the writing on the letter had been done in bright green block letters.

Newt was ashy pale. He looked from the letter to the second deputy and then to his wife.

"You ... you know what it says?" he demanded, his voice thick with fury. "Read this. Just read this!"

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